Severus Snape wandered through Diagon alley, bored out of his mind. It was the beginning of summer holidays, and he had nothing to do. Well, technically it was the beginning of whatever he was supposed to be doing for the rest of his life, but he didn't have any immediate plans so he preferred to think of it as just a holiday. He meandered through the various shops, picking up a potion ingredient here, a book there.

He scowled and glared at the couples passing by, giving a particularly nasty stare to a young witch who had bumped into him. This was the reason he didn't like shopping. Too many people. He hated people. In general, they were stupid, and he'd yet to find anyone who could prove him wrong.

Wandering a little farther, he turned down Knockturn Alley. It was a place that the faint of heart should not go. It was filled with strange and dangerous things. It was half a den of thieves, half a market place. It was where he went when the simple shops failed to hold his interest.

Severus thought that even Knockturn would bore him today, the restless feeling he had had all morning was starting to grow by leaps and bounds. He spotted something interesting though, and walked quickly towards it. In such a rush to get to the strange tent-like structure, he knocked over a cart in his haste. The old woman shrieked in anger and quickly began gathering up the cracked, chipped fingernails that he had accidentally scattered . He waved his wand with a snap and a muttered charm, and cleaned up the mess he had made. Unfortunately he wasn't watching where he was going and ran into her other basket.

Full of hair.

Thoroughly disgusted at this new turn of events, and a headache developing from the witch screaming in his ear about ruined potion ingredients, Severus stumbled away from her, leaving the woman to clean up. He ducked around a corner and started picking the long, greasy chunks of straggly hair off his cloak. Following some annoying unwritten rule, all the hairs seemed to be white, directly contrasting the pitch black of his clothes.

Sighing, he opted for a charm to solve his dilemma, and finally made his way to the tent, sliding unnoticed past the witch whose cart he'd overturned, and into the tent.

He had expected it to be bright, as all the shops were, but the interior of the tent was shrouded in shadows and a pale smoke hung in the air. His eyes adjusted to the dim light that forced it's entrance through the material and the flap of the tent. When he could finally see he noticed that this also didn't fit the normal style of shops, as there was a single table covered in a black cloth.

He moved closer to inspect the table, and saw that the cloth was actually covered in little gold stars, and he reached out a hand to touch it.

"Please don't touch."

Severus's head snapped up, and he snatched his hand back. There was a woman who he hadn't noticed before. She was actually been sitting right in front of him, but with the darkness of the tent, her black clothes, and the shadow she'd been sitting in, she was almost invisible.

He studied her carefully, sizing her up. She honestly didn't look like much, and her eyes were strangely unfocused. He gave her a glare, but she didn't react. His face softened from his normal unfriendly look, and waved a hand in front of her face. She didn't react to that either.

"You know Severus, without that scowl you're rather nice looking."

He blushed, but the scowl took up its normal position on his features. He knew that he wasn't good looking, he was much too thin, his nose too big… he could go on, but he hated how he looked enough already.

"What is this place, old woman?" Severus snapped at her, trying to cover his embarrassment.

She smiled, and pulled out what looked like a large glass ball, and set it in an indentation on the table. He stared disbelievingly at her. He'd heard about this sort of thing…it was very similar to divination, but it was muggle. The difference was that the muggles believed they were actually doing some form of magic, while divination WAS a valid form of magic, even if he thought it was a waste of time.

"You want me to tell your fortune, Severus?" the woman inquired, with a slight edge of impatience to her voice, "It's 10 pounds. I don't know what the current exchange is, but I know you'll pay me the right amount."

He blinked at her. She really was a muggle, and one who seemed to believe she possessed some form of magic. He had time to kill, money to burn, and a restlessness to ease, so he decided to chance it.

He moved slightly closer, and tossed a bunch of galleons at her, and waited. She didn't collect them, but waved her hand over the ball. He was surprised when it filled with smoke that swirled around in mesmerizing patterns.

She stared into it, and then held her hand out to him. He stared at it as if it was something foreign, but eventually laid his hand in hers. Her eyes seemed to glow with a greenish light, and when she started speaking, her voice had a strange, unearthly quality about it.

"After the dog reveals his true coat,

A rat's guile's will prove fruitful.

A man with a hooked beak will be the one of few,

He will have lost the ones that cared.

Hiding in the shadows,

A thief of secrets and knowledge

The pawn of two,

A slave to the cause.

Numb is the heart that beats within;

Cold and callous,

Heartless without.

A heart made of wood and soaked in pitch-

A phoenix shall spark the flame."

He blinked at the brightness of the sun as he left the tent, squinting as his eyes adjusted again. He turned to look back at the tent, half expecting it to have disappeared on him, but it was exactly where he had left it.

Muttering something about crazy old muggles and wasting money, he disappeared into the crowd, intent on making his way home with his purchases.